KATHMANDU: World Health Regional committee on Tuesday said 50 children die of diarrhoea followed by pneumonia every hour in South-East Asia.

“Diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections are the biggest killers of children under five in SEA,” said Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for SEA.

There is a need to focus on diarrhoea and pneumonia in the national health programme, he added.

WHO claimed that the average incidence of acute diarrhoea among children under five years of age is around three episodes per child per year in SEA. In some South-East Asian countries, it could be as high as 12 episodes per child per year, it was revealed in a WHO conference, participated by the health ministers of 11 nations in the region.

Lack of safe water, sanitation, proper nutrition, essential health services and awareness about effective interventions make the poor especially vulnerable to acute diarrhoeal diseases, it was concluded.

Plianbangchang said that simple, safe and relatively inexpensive interventions can greatly reduce the deaths due to diarrhoea in the region. Exclusive breastfeeding up to six months, frequent hand-washing, nutritional intervention, timely immunisation and improved case management with early oral rehydration therapy and zinc at both community and facility levels could also help minimise the number of diarrhoea patients, he added. Adequate supply of safe water and improved

sanitation as well as community, household and good personal hygiene practices can really reduce the disease burden in the region.

He added that control

of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections require an integrated and comprehensive approach for prevention and case management with full

involvement of the community.